


Gundam SEED Season 1 Episode 24: War For Two

by StarryTreks



Category: Gundam SEED
Genre: AsuCaga, Athrun Zala - Freeform, Cagalli Yula Athha - Freeform, F/M, Gundam SEED - Freeform, Gundam SEED Episode 24, My OTP forever and always amen, Rated teen for language, War for Two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 14:24:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7896070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarryTreks/pseuds/StarryTreks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is basically a transcription of S1 Ep24 of Gundam SEED focused specifically on Athrun and Cagalli and the time they spend stranded on that deserted island in the Indian Ocean. This is told through Cagalli's PoV.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gundam SEED Season 1 Episode 24: War For Two

**Author's Note:**

> It's my favorite episode, and I've been meaning to do it for a while now. I added a few extra things in there as well to compensate for scene shifts. 
> 
> Enjoy!

The wind screamed around the Skygrasper as it plummeted through the atmosphere. In the midst of the turbulence and the jet's internal alarm, I was thrown forward and knocked my head hard against the controls. It was lucky that I was wearing a helmet, otherwise the impact would have surely made a sizable dent in my cranium. The glass of my visor cracked making it look like a delicate spider’s web. _Just great._ My ears buzzed with adrenaline as I gripped the joystick trying to ease the craft upright from it's swan dive for the ocean, but flight command had been completely disabled by the ZAFT transporter's deadly aim. With nothing left to do, I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable impact with the sea.

I put out the landing gear and clutched Ahmed's dog tags under my vest and braced myself for impact. The jet skipped a few times on the water before hitting the shore. My eyes widening in alarm as I tried to slow the momentum of the jet by initializing the front thrusters to a quarter impulse before I could collide with the tree line dead ahead.

Luckily, the force from the thrusters sent the Skygrasper slipping sideways on the sandy beach before it careened to a stop. Leaning back in my chair, I let out a sigh. _That could have ended a whole lot worse._ I turned on the comms unit inside my helmet only to be greeted by static.

“Damn!” I shouted, flinging it off in frustration. ZAFT was jamming the airwaves which made all contact with the Archangel impossible for the time being. There was no telling when the interference would clear- but when it did, I wanted to make sure they knew I was still alive and waiting for them to pick me up from... wherever the hell this was. 

Deploying the Skygrasper’s internal distress signal, I hopped out of the cockpit.  The emergency rations were in a compartment near where the ZAFT transport ship had fired. Even though there was little hope that any of the food and medical supplies were still there, I had to check. I had no idea how long I was going to be here.

As I’d expected, the compartment and its contents had been blown to bits along with the rear left side thruster. No food. No medical supplies. No nothing. Thankfully, I wasn’t hurt or hungry at the moment- but I would be eventually. 

Maybe I'd have to sharpen a long tree branch and hunt for food _Lord of the Flies_ style.

I should have taken the errant thought as an omen. 

_This interference had better let up soon,_ I thought, taking a deep clarifying breath of the chilled briny air.  _Or this beach might be my deathbed._

After orienting myself, I took a moment to look around. The island appeared to have a little vegetation, so I hiked past the shore and into the small forest the Skygrasper had almost destroyed in its descent to inspect it. Even though it was early March, it was mild. That was probably the only fortunate thing about this entire situation. 

I could deal with the dry heat of the desert but had this been summertime, the humidity and the bugs would have made this leagues worse.

The small wooded area lasted only a minute's walk before breaking, giving me a view of the opposite beach which was just as desolate.

“There’s no way anyone lives here,” I muttered to myself, peering around from the vantage point I’d found myself standing on. Then something caught my attention, and it made the blood in my veins freeze. The maroon head of a mobile suit was visible just beyond a rocky outcrop, and just below, a man with dark hair wearing a red pilot’s uniform was walking away from the machine with a bag.

_A ZAFT pilot!_ I thought in horror, yanking my gun out of its holster. I aimed at him, but when I shifted to get better footing, our eyes met. It felt as if he could see right through me. 

He looked surprised at my sudden appearance, so I used it to my advantage and shot at him. Most of my bullets missed, but one managed to graze his arm before he dropped his gear and made a mad dash for a nearby crag. 

“Stop right there!” I yelled with my pistol out, sliding down the not-so-steep outcrop. I pressed my back to the other side of the rock he was using as cover and slowly slid against it with my gun ready. Just as I reached the edge, I spotted the bag he’d dropped... and his shiny black semi-automatic. 

_ I’d better cover it quickly before he gets any ideas.  _

Blood pounded thunderously in my ears as I made my way to his personal effects. I was acutely aware of the danger I was in, especially when the pilot and I locked eyes again. He reminded me a bit of a cornered animal as he slid against the rock. He didn’t look afraid, just calculating. Calculating the odds that he’d get out of this gunfight without a gun. Probably. 

When I cast a sideways glance at the pistol on the ground, in my periphery, I saw him pull a switchblade out of his belt. His liquid eyes were trained on me, a warning. He knew how to use that knife, and he wasn't afraid to carve me up with it. 

A shiver ran down my spine and I gritted my teeth, kicking his gun away from us. It skittered along the rocky ground. My attempt to neutralize him as a threat obviously irked him because he let out a low growl- but before I could determine if he was going to lunge at me or try to escape, I shot at him again. He skillfully evaded me by vaulting up the side of the rock face. 

How the hell did he do that by the way? Was he a freaking gymnast, too? 

My eyes could barely follow him. I suppressed a shudder while I scanned the surrounding vantage points with my insufficient eyesight. Determining I was in the clear for the time being, I reloaded my gun and ran over to inspect the pistol I’d kicked away.

_Barrel, trigger, safety._ I thought, turning the Coordinator's gun over in my hands. _It looked easy enough to use. No obvious modifications..._

A shout from behind and above jarred me from my inspection. Before I could register what was happening, the Coordinator kicked his gun out of my hand. I let out a surprised yelp when his gloved hands closed around my wrists, forcing my well-placed shots off target causing my grip on my own firearm to weaken. My gun clattered to the ground. With his brow furrowed and teeth bared in a terrifying snarl, the world was turned on its head as the pilot sent me sprawling. 

I didn’t even have time to jump to my feet before he was on top of me with his switchblade ready to go in for the kill. He had me pinned with his hand gripping the collar of my vest and his forearm against my chest. This was it- there was no way out of this. I'm going to die right here and right now. I had nothing to lose, so I screamed and closed my eyes, turning my head instinctively away as my life flashed in the dark. 

There came a long pause; no stabbing pain followed. Instead, the pilot spoke, “a girl?” 

This made me open my watering eyes. The dark-haired man looked surprised at this revelation. I shouldn’t have felt so annoyed with the fact that he’d thought I was a boy- but for some reason, I was.

“That’s right, I’m a girl!” I said, tearily- the words tumbling out of my mouth once I knew they would save me. “What is it with you men?!”

He sat back on his haunches after a moment of contemplation, and let out a sigh. “You’re from the legged-ship, aren’t you?” 

“So what if I am?” 

“Sorry,” he said, putting his knife away flipping me onto my chest as I tried to squirm to get away from him, he gripped my hands and pulled them behind me as he started to tie them together with some of the rope he had hidden away in his utility belt. “It’s nothing personal.” 

“Ouch! What the hell-” I gasped when he pulled the nylon rope a little too tightly.

He reached between my hands to loosen the rope- it was still tight, and would prevent me from getting out without something sharp- but at least it was no longer digging into me. 

"Better?” He asked with a layer of sarcasm. 

“It’d be better if I weren’t tied up at all.” 

The pilot laughed. I scowled with my cheek pressed against the cool rock, “like I said: it’s nothing personal.” 

He tied up my feet for good measure and patted me down. His hands were on my butt for a grand total of three seconds to check my back pockets before moving down my legs.Flipping me over, he ran his hands down my waist and hips. What was he looking for? Weapons?

“I don’t have anything on me,” I sighed wearily. 

“I wish I could take you at your word,” the pilot said sympathetically. He couldn’t have been that much older than me, but he already had the look of someone that’d seen their share of fighting. “I’m sorry.” 

“Why are you apolog- hey!” I gasped when he slipped his hands under my vest. He checked me with clinical swiftness, not stopping for a chance to cop a feel- which I was more than a little thankful for. His hands paused on the dog tags around my neck, tracing his fingers along the text. He frowned, disappointed. _Could he read them?_

Sighing, the pilot walked over to collect the guns from the ground, picked up his bag, and took the clip out of my gun- tossing it into the sea. The gun itself followed. There went my last form of defense against the super soldier. _Great._

“Are you really with the Earth Forces?” He asked me, setting down his bag to unzip it. Then he unzipped his jumpsuit partially, drawing his injured arm out of its sleeve. “You’re not carrying any identification that actually belongs to you.” _He was talking about_ _Ahmed’s _ _dog tags... so he really_ could _read them. What a weird talent._ “Besides, I’ve never heard a solider scream like that on the battlefield.” 

I cringed, flushing, “sorry about that.” 

“You’re the one who tried to shoot down our transport, aren’t you?” continued the man nonchalantly, bandaging his bicep. “I saw your downed aircraft on the other beach.” 

“ _You_ guys tried to shoot _me_ down,” I snapped. This made him look at me with an easy smile. It was as if he were used to handling difficult people. 

“Tell me something, _pilot_. Which group do you belong to, and why are you alone?” It sounded like he was actually _mocking_ me.

_Asshole._

“I am _not_ a soldier, and I don’t belong to a group and I-,” I told him through gritted teeth, struggling to sit up with a huge amount of difficulty. The pressure of my body weight on my hands was starting to ache, and in my attempt to relieve them of it, I ended up using too much force to get up and flopped into my stomach with an oof. “I don’t _wanna_ be here!” I managed.

The soldier droned unsure of whether or not to believe me, zipping his suit up halfway. 

“Are you... one of the guys who attacked Heliopolis?” I asked looking up at him, “I was there when it happened. I was on Heliopolis when you guys destroyed it.” 

His eyes darkened as if it had made this entire situation more precarious than it had been before. It was good that I was undercover here. If he knew who I really was, he'd probably take me prisoner when ZAFT rescue came to deliver him to base. 

Instead of answering my question, he turned his back on me and went to his mobile suit... _Morgeonreote’s_ mobile suit. I'd know that hunk of junk anywhere. Damned thing. 

_Cryptic jerk! He could have at least said_ something _!_

Ten minutes later, the weather started taking a turn for the worse and the pilot hadn’t come back yet, so I inched my way over to the red mobile suit to seek shelter from the storm. The closeness of the thunder shocked me so much that I lost my balance, and found myself falling back into oblivion... I ended up rolling (rather painfully) into a small watery inlet- which was sandy from the ocean’s weathering. 

As my rotten luck would have it, it started to rain. This day just kept getting better and better. _What had I done in a past life to deserve this?_

“Just great,” I sighed, as the rain poured over my face. “Oh, sheesh,” I muttered before a small wave submerged me completely. I held my breath until it passed, and I broke the surface sputtering for air. 

A huge metal arm stretched over me and fired a single shot into the sea. It was a capsule of some sort. A distress signal?

I stared at it in awe for a few moments before my reverie was interrupted with... 

“Whatcha doin’?” A smooth voice with an air of humor asked. The pilot stood over me with one hand on his hip. 

“I think that’s fairly obvious,” I managed stiffly. “I can’t move! Stop standing there and help me!” 

“I don’t think you’re in any position to tell me what to do,” the man retorted with that mocking tone of his. 

I'd had _quite_ enough of his attitude, “oh, just shut up and give me a hand.” 

He knelt down after a beat of silence and pulled me out of the water by my shoulders. 

“Are you okay?” He asked me in that lazy way that was sort of starting to drive me insane. But for the first time, I realized- this man was absolutely gorgeous. Another modification? Maybe. 

All of a sudden, something crawled out of my soaking wet hair and scurried down the man’s forearm before casting itself off into the inlet. The little crab shattered the brittle tension between us. He chuckled. 

“What’s so funny?” 

“I’ve never experienced this sort of thing before coming to Earth,” he answered earnestly. 

“What? Don’t you have crabs in the PLANTs?” I rolled my eyes sarcastically, standing up to hop out from under the mobile suit’s massive arm. 

“Hey, where are you going?” The pilot asked, getting to his feet. 

I looked over my shoulder at him, “I’m washing myself off in the rain- I’m completely covered in sand.” A sigh escaped my mouth as the cool rain lifted the gritty muck from my skin and clothes. What I would have given to just strip right then and there... “this feels so good!” I breathed, closing my eyes, and lifting my face to the sky. After a few moment, the bonds restraining my wrists and feet were severed. 

“Wha-” I muttered, turning around in surprise. 

“You can fight all you want,” The pilot said dully locking eyes with me again for a moment before sheathing his knife and turning away from me. “But without your gun, you’re not much of a threat to me.” 

Anger curled in my stomach, the nice feeling fleeing like a spooked rabbit. “What do you mean by that exactly?” 

Instead of responding, he went on, “and- you seem to have a stowaway... under your shirt.” 

I blushed, opening my mouth to retort but stopped when I felt something crawling around on my skin. I thought it'd been sand! I paled and quickly lifted my shirt. Sure enough, a tiny crab fell free from my bra. Shivering, I put my shirt back down, “you’re right- hey- how did you-” the man tried taking a step forward, but ended up tripping over his own feet. It was so slick, that he slipped and fell right on his ass with a satisfying splash.I laughed, walking over to help him up. 

“You okay?” I asked, extending my hand to him. He took it sheepishly and rose to his full height. 

Beet red with embarrassment, he changed the subject,  “I also came to say that there’s a cave nearby. We should start a fire and wait for someone to find us.”

My eyes traced his almost feminine features for a moment before I agreed. 

 

We’d managed to find some dry wood and made a respectable fire. The pilot dug through his bag and tossed a rolled up blanket at me. 

“You should hang your clothes out to dry. You might catch a cold if you leave them on.”

I pursed my lips. He was right, but he was still staring at me. “Can you... um, turn around?” 

“Oh, I- sorry.” The pilot mumbled, turning around quickly, still very flustered. A gentleman. Surprisingly. I stripped quickly, leaving my bra and underwear on (thank you very much) and hung my vest, shirt, and pants over the make-shift drying rack we’d made. I kicked off my boots and peeled off my socks, too.

The pilot rummaged again through his bag until he found two silver mugs and a package of food. I wrapped the blanket around me. 

“Are you decent?” The pilot asked me. 

“Yeah,” I said carefully.

He walked over and held one of the cups out for me to take. It had a package of something inside. Military rations. I hesitated- remembering that we were more than two people roughing it on a deserted island. This mobile suit pilot was partially responsible for the destruction of Heliopolis. 

He sighed, and set the cup next to me, “Eh, looks like the airwaves are jammed. So there’s a good possibility that we might have to spend the night here.” 

My jaw clenched at the irony. “You guys are responsible for making a mess of the airwaves.” 

He scoffed and turned back to the mouth of the cave. “We only did that because of the Earth Forces' nuclear attack.” There was a beat of silence before he spoke again. “It might be ZAFT rations, but it’s better than nothing. Yours got washed away, right?” 

Before I could refuse his hospitality and stick to my guns, my stomach betrayed me. It let out a long growl, and I flushed- not daring to look at the coordinator full on. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw him smiling.

_Dammit._ I grabbed the package out of the mug and tore it open. The contents were surprisingly colorful. It was dried fruit... dried fruit from the PLANTs. At this point, I didn't really care, and I tucked in. Soon, the  headache I didn’t know I had subsided and I sighed in relief at having a full stomach, leaning back. When he wasn’t watching, I was looking at him. A chilly wind blew outside caught his hair in the moonlight. 

_How could a guy be so pretty like that?_

He finished off the water in his mug and sat down across the fire from me. 

_No,_ I thought, as he threw another piece of wood in the fire. _I can’t be distracted by this right now._

“Hey, what’s going on? Shouldn’t I still be tied up?” I inquired. The pilot only looked at me in askance. “I could wait until you let your guard down and take your gun, and then the tables would be turned.” 

“What?” He said, disbelief coloring his expression.

“You’d be the biggest laughingstock in the ZAFT army.” 

He laughed mirthlessly at this. 

“Why are you laughing?” I demanded. Didn’t he realize he was literally about to sleep with the enemy?

“Because of you! You just won’t give it up, will ya?” He sighed, “ _if_ you go for my gun, I’ll have no choice but to kill you, so don’t even think about it.” I gritted my teeth, so he was the kind of person that only seemed laid-back. At least he was honest. “Did you survive Heliopolis just for that? Don’t push your luck.” 

I snorted, looking away from him. “I never thought a ZAFT soldier would worry about _my_ life.” 

I could feel his eyes on me for a moment, his expression thoughtful. “You know we... never dreamed that would happen to Heliopolis. It wasn’t supposed to go down that way at all.” 

This was a surprise. “What do you mean?” 

“Our only mission was to take the mobile suit weapons that Morgeonreote developed. Nothing else was supposed to happen.” 

“But it did happen. The fact is you guys attacked and destroyed that colony,” I replied stiffly. 

“It’s also a fact that Orb declared itself neutral and then built those things at Heliopolis!” He retorted. His words hit a sore spot, but he was right. I’d had the same thoughts when I’d first seen those things. “We only want to protect the PLANTs- our homes, so we can’t just look away when they’re building those machines!” 

“It’s the same thing for us!” I cried. “We’re only fighting because you guys came and brutally attacked the Earth!” 

We stared at each other for a moment, our eyes reflected the pyre... and each other. Neither of us was going to give up this argument so easily. The coordinator was the first to break eye contact, but he looked sad as if our conversation had unearthed something painful. “My... mother was on Junius Seven.” 

I felt as if I’d just been stabbed, _oh god..._

“It was only an agricultural PLANT. Innocent people were obliterated in an instant- even children! Did you expect we’d do nothing?” 

“A lot of my friends died too, and they weren’t even soldiers before they were forced to be- all because of your attacks! They were just kids!”

We glared at each other for a few moments, “let’s just drop it,” the pilot said flatly. “No matter how much we argue about it, nothing’s ever gonna change.” 

_He was right.Thinking like that, of course, things_ aren't _going to change. We have to start somewhere to achieve peace, don't we?_

I chewed on my lip hard and sighed letting the heated moment fizzle out. "What was your mother like?" I asked him gently. "I never knew mine."

The coordinator looked surprised that I'd asked, but his gaze was soft, "you know how there are certain people that can light up a room with their presence alone?" I  nodded, thinking about Ahmed. "My mother had that talent. She was charismatic and spirited- and very good for my father's... unpredictable mood swings. She always encouraged me to do my best- even when my father..." he furrowed his brow and shook his head. "Even when my father didn't think it was enough, but I was always enough for my mother. " He was looking down at his hands now- folded in his lap, but he was smiling even though he looked like he wanted to cry. "There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss her."

For whatever reason, I didn't realize I was crying until he looked up at me. He looked like he was about to say something, but I wiped at my wet cheeks and cleared my throat, "I'm so sorry." I managed, swallowing the lump in my throat. "I know it doesn't mean much coming from me, but-" 

"Thank you," he said gently, his voice low- almost as low as a whisper. After a few moments of silence, he went on in an attempt to change the mood.  "She... used to make these amazing lemon drop cookies," he went on, "I know it sounds cliche, but they were the most incredible things in the entire universe. I don't know whether it's filial bias talking, but they always cheered me up. The kitchen always smelled like citrus when she'd had a hard day. Somehow, our bad days seemed to overlap pretty often." 

"She sounds like a stress-baker," I noted. 

He chuckled, "I think you're right." 

I found myself laughing a little, too.

It was then that I realized something that I shouldn't, and I had a sinking suspicion that this is why they tell you not to fraternize with the enemy. 

_Oh boy. I needed to take a walk._

Outside, the air was cool- even though we were somewhere in the Indian Ocean. It had to be about fifty degrees- give or take. Looming in the sky like an ill omen and standing up against the wind was that man’s mobile suit. It was crimson like blood. _The Aegis._ I didn’t know how father could live with himself after he decided to give Morgeonreote the go-head to engineer those murder machines, only to have ZAFT steal and use them to attack Earth.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw that the pilot who's mother had made him lemon drop cookies was laying down, his hand cradling his cheek. Was he... _sleeping?_

“Hey, you- you can’t fall asleep!” I told him. My words did little to wake him, but he did manage to mumble a few things about transferring from someplace before he passed out. 

I frowned and returned back to where I’d been sitting before. My eyes fell to the gun on his hip and I pursed my lips. How could he fall asleep and leave a prisoner unguarded? 

What I really needed was resolve. _There had to be a line somewhere. Talking to him about his mother helped smooth tensions for a short time, but when the sympathy is spent, all that would remain is resentment and a need for revenge._ Glancing over at the mobile suit again made me realize something. If I did not stop him, that machine would keep killing innocent people like Ahmed and all of those lost at Junius Seven. I had this one chance to save hundreds- maybe thousands. Throwing it away would make me complicit in their deaths, too- wouldn’t it?

I sighed, crossed over to him, and leaned over- my hand outstretched for his gun. 

A sudden chill hit me when I remembered his words; he would kill me if I tried to... 

I drew my hand back just a little before the fire crackled loudly, waking him. The Coordinator looked surprised to see me there, but in the split second I had to react, I grabbed his gun and threw my blanket over him. 

“What the-” he shouted as I backed up to the far side of the cave. I held his gun at the ready and he tossed the blanket aside taking his knife out once again. 

“I really don’t want to shoot you,” I told him, voice trembling, “and understand that Orb's at fault for making them, but that mobile suit- that _thing_ is going to kill more of us if I let you go. I don't want for there to be another Junius Seven.” 

He looked startled at my admission, and then angry, “fine, then shoot- because I’d be the one pulling the trigger.” I gritted my teeth as fear ran through my body, “I’m a ZAFT pilot until the bitter end.” He went on, his eyes narrowed. “I will not let you take my machine, and if you try to shoot me, then I’ll have to kill you!” Even though he said that, the hand holding the knife was down on the ground. His empty hand was up in defense. 

I took a shuddering breath in as tears pricked my eyes. Andrew Waltfeld’s words reverberated in my mind; “we’re destined to be sworn enemies even if we _are_ both coordinators,” he’d said. “It really makes you wonder if there’s no other option than for one of us to be destroyed.” 

Waltfeld was wrong. There _had_ to be another way... I didn’t want any more people to die. Especially not for Orb’s sins. 

“Damn it to hell!” I yelled bitterly, throwing the gun. 

The events following that mindless impulse happened in a blur. Suddenly, I found myself on the ground, the man’s arms were wrapped around me protectively, my face was pressed into his collar and my hands were crossed against my chest. 

The gun I’d just thrown went off with a loud deafening bang. 

He was so... warm and the ocean’s scent clung to his clothes...

“What are you _crazy?_ Throwing a loaded gun?” The pilot cried, pulling away- looking at me the way Myrna does when she realizes I've done something reckless... which is about eighty percent of the time. He was...  _worried_ about me? _Why?_

“I’m... sorry,” I managed, something was stuck in my throat. I felt waves of fear, relief, and shock all at once. Had he not stepped in when he did... I really would have died today. 

“What is it with you?” He sighed, sitting back against the wall of the cave.

“Well,” I said, sitting up, trying to go through my thought process so that I could explain, “you see, I um...” then I spotted it; a fresh new injury on his side was just starting to bleed. It made the clarity of our situation that much palpable. I’d shot him twice, _and he’d only been trying to keep me alive this whole time._

“Did I just do that?” I asked him, feeling a guilty pang. He looked resigned and pretty damn tired. 

“It’s nothing,” he said, standing up.

“We should really take care of that,” I insisted, as he walked away. I followed suit; we headed for his supplies.

“Don’t worry about it,” the pilot said flatly, picking up the canvas bag by its strap. 

Grabbing the bag, I tried pulling it towards me, “let me help, c’mon!” 

“Just forget it!” The pilot said hotly, pulling it back. 

“Just let me do it,” I cried, yanking the bag towards my chest. “I wanna pay you back for everything you’ve done to help me out. It’s the _least_ I can do for you.” 

He blinked in surprise at my genuineness, but then something seemed to catch his attention, and he flushed. 

“Before that, would you mind getting dressed?” He muttered, turning away from me as the realization set in. “Your clothes should be dry by now.”

_Oh. My. God._

I colored, and covered my chest with his bag. If only I could have melted into a puddle right then and there- or become one with the universe so I wouldn’t have to live through this, I’d be totally down with that. 

 

After quickly throwing on my clothing, I turned to find the pilot stripping off his shirt and my legs almost gave out. I’ve seen boys without their shirts on before! Why was I being such an infant about this particular guy? He wasn’t anything especially astounding, he wasn’t burly or overly manly looking, but he was strong. His lithe frame and porcelain skin made me think of a princess in a tower hidden away, but this man was no princess. He was a soldier- and his eyes were a storm.

I put on my most emotionless expression- the one I saved especially for the press (you're welcome) and I sat down in front of him, being sure to leave enough distance between us. Rummaging around in his bag, I found the antisceptic spray and some gauze. He didn’t flinch when I sprayed it on and pressed the gauze firmly to his side to soak up the blood that was already starting to ooze from the cut. I sucked in a breath and gently applied an anti-scarring cream to his injury and dressed it with a long roll of gauze.

My fingers brushed against his skin a few times by accident, leaving a trail of gooseflesh behind. I looked up at him- a little flushed, "is this too tight?” 

“No, it feels much better,” he said carefully. I nodded and tied it off quickly. 

“How is... your arm?” I asked curiously, eyeing the bandage from the first time I’d grazed him. 

“It’s only a scratch,” he told me, reassuringly. Nodding, I patted his arm gently, packed his first aid kit into his bag, and zipped it up. “Thank you.” 

“No, I should be the one thanking you,” I said, holding out my hand for him to shake. He looked at it for a moment before taking it. 

“You’re welcome,” he said. We sat there holding each other’s hands for a long time. Looking into his eyes was like gazing through a tree canopy on a clear summer day or watching the sun set over Orb's azure waters. After so many months of fighting and seeing all I’d seen, how ironic was it that this coordinator’s eyes had, for a moment, brought me home. 

I was hit with homesickness so violently in that moment that my eyes started watering. I tried to look away from him, but he cupped my face in his hands and made me look at him before I could hide my tears. 

“Are you okay?” 

He was concerned again. 

“Yeah,” I said quickly, rubbing my face. “I just-” Suddenly, he leaned forward to press a kiss to my forehead and held me tightly in his arms, my cheek flush against his collar bone. Under the smell of soot from the fire mixed with brine from the ocean, he smelled comfortingly of lemon zest. 

“It’s okay, now. It’s okay,” the man whispered over and over. 

Unable to stop the tears, I wrapped my arms around him and sobbed, “I just want to go home. I miss my father. I miss him so much.” 

The pilot held me until I couldn’t cry anymore, rubbing my back soothingly. At some point, I must have fallen asleep on him because when I woke, I was on my side of our dead campfire wrapped in his blanket. A cold morning mist had permeated the cave. The pilot was fully dressed again, leaning against the cave wall with his eyes closed. Even still, I got the impression that he was wide awake. 

I flushed thinking about last night... _I’d actually cried on a ZAFT pilot. How fuckin' embarrassing._

A beeping sound coming from his wrist communicator made his eyes flash open, he stared down at it, ran out to his mobile suit, and rode the line into the cockpit. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and followed him out- though a little more slowly.

“What’s going on?” I called up to him. 

There was a pause before he stuck his head out, “the radio's working!” 

I pursed my lips and went back to the cave to grab his bag. There was another brief pause before he jumped out of the Aegis and walked over to me, rubbing the back of his neck. I handed over the satchel. Nodding his thanks, he slung it over his shoulder.

“ZAFT rescue is on its way, they should be here soon,” he informed me. “And there’s another vessel coming by sea, it’s headed in the direction of your aircraft. I gotta go hide this machine. I don’t want this to turn into a battleground.”

“Right,” I said sheepishly, “I’d better head back to my aircraft. I’ll find someplace to hide.” 

“Yeah, right.” The man replied, smiling a little. 

"I'm... um, sorry for what happened last night." 

"We're on opposite sides of a war," he told me easily. "You don't need to apologize for that." 

I chewed on my lip before hopping onto my tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek. He was stunned and his mouth agape when I pulled away. 

"What was that for?"

"For not killing me," I said, "and for letting me cry on you." He looked too stunned to respond, so I took two steps back and looked up at the Aegis one more time before looked back at him clearing my throat with my fist in part to hide how red my cheeks were. “Take care of yourself.”  I turned and walked away with my ears smarting.

“Hey,” he called out to me. I turned, eyebrows raised- his hand was on his cheek where I'd kissed him. “Are you sure you’re not with the Earth Forces?” 

“Nope,” I answered, shaking my head. “I’m not.”  The pilot looked away for a minute, he looked incredibly sad. It really made me wonder what else he'd been through already. “Hey, I’m Cagalli- what’s your name?” I asked in an attempt to distract him from the plague of memories. 

He looked up- a little surprised, “It’s Athrun.”

_Athrun_. I smiled nodding, wondering if I'd ever see him again.  It was hard to believe that someone like him could have so much blood on their ledger. 

Scaling the rocky crag was a little harder than sliding down but I managed and booked it through the forest as fast as my legs would carry me. En route back to my downed craft, I saw a giant metallic head emerge from the ocean. 

My breathing hitched, and I was sure that I never felt quite so relieved to see anyone in my entire life. _It was the Strike!_

"Kira!" I cried.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know your thoughts. I REALLY wanted to add something a little more romantic in here, but I couldn't see Athrun betraying Lacus before she released him from their engagement which happened later on in the series.


End file.
